John's Books

Adrenaline

WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined this book to be hazardous to your health.

James Parker discovers what may very well be a cure for the rare form of muscular dystrophy confining both him and his sister to wheelchairs. But it would take years for the drug to get through clinical trials. And his sister doesn’t have years. She might not even have weeks.

When Parker rescues fellow biochemistry grad student, Darcy Williams, from a mob of drug fiends, she takes an eager interest in his research. Neglecting her own research, she works feverishly to help Parker with the cure, but she seems to be haunted by phantoms of her own.

In desperation Parker tests the cure on himself, and it seems at first to work. But why are there so many holes in his memory? Is it a side effect of the drug, or have Darcy’s phantoms sprung suddenly to life?

Oxygen

Valkerie
is tough, brilliant, and has an uncanny knack for survival. When NASA
chooses her for the first mission to Mars, Valkerie is thrilled -- until
she learns she's displacing America's heartthrob, celebrity astronaut
Josh Bennett.

Bob, the ship's mechanic, is paid to be
paranoid -- and he's good at it. After a teeth-rattling launch, Bob
realizes that his paranoia hasn't prepared him for this trip. He can
deal with a banged-up spaceship, but how's he going to survive the next
five months with HER just a flimsy partition away?

Halfway to the Red Planet, an explosion leaves the four-member crew with only enough oxygen for one.

Shade

A waking nightmare pursues graduate student Hailey Maniates into golden gate park where she is rescued by a giant homeless man.

Can she read his mind or is it just a delusion? Was there really a monster chasing her?

He carries her to a hospital where she is diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia. The psychiatrists tell her that her experiences aren’t real – only symptoms of her condition. She leaves the hospital determined not to respond to the hallucinations, but she can’t rest. Too many unsolved mysteries surround the occasion of her first hallucination.

First and most perplexing is the giant who keeps popping into her life. He’s convinced that a monster is trying to kill them.

Against all reason, Hailey finds herself becoming more and more attracted to him. But can she trust her feelings? What if they’re part of her delusion? What if the monster haunting him is real after all?

What if the homeless man is the monster?

Fossil Hunter

Paleontologist Katie James is a genius in the field, but she suffers from a crippling form of demophobia. When she is selected to leadan emergency expedition to the Iraqi desert, the entire trip is a fight for survival. That she is expected to compete against her archrival, Nick Murad, only makes it worse.

During her hunt Katie uncovers the unexpected—a human fossil so controversial she’s forced to collaborate with Nick to analyze the find before it can be destroyed by a fundamentalist government faction.

When their initial results fly in the face of both religious fundamentalism and current scientific theory, the whole world turns against them, including those they thought they could trust most.

Then the fossil disappears, sending Nick and Katie on a chase that could cost them their reputations, their careers—even their lives.

The Fifth Man

Valkerie is tough, brilliant, and has an uncanny knack for
survival. Every man on the planet is pursuing her. Yes, every man. The
planet in question is Mars, with a total population of four.

Days before a giant dust storm is due to strike their camp, Valkerie is attacked late one night by an unseen assailant.

Fortunately, there are only three possible suspects.

Unfortunately, all three of them are . . . innocent.

Powers

Deep in the swamps of southern Louisianna, Mariutza’s beloved grandfather utters his last request and dies in her arms. All her life he's looked after her, trained her in the old ways, kept her hidden from the enemy. But now...

The Badness has found her.

Mari's only hope is to find Jaazaniah the Prophet, the legendary hero of her grandfather's bedtime stories. But how can a Creole girl who has never left the swamp survive the world of men long enough to find a hero who may not even exist?

In the heart of New Orleans, musician Jazz Rechabson runs for his life. Everyone is out to get him. Soldiers, government agents, mysterious hooded men. What to they want? And who is the beautiful girl who haunts his waking dreams?

Can strangers from different worlds stay alive long enough to unmask a horrifying enemy?